“Ain’t no thing,” the woman said, a smile on her face. “I saw the fight. I ain’t never seen a woman kick a man’s ass like that before.”
Angelica dropped her clothing on the toilet and walked back out to her. “Here’s the hard truth about fighting.” Angel’s voice was low, but she didn’t have any emotion in it. “I did as good as I did because I’ve trained most of my life to fight. Most of my sparring and fights are usually against men. Those guys out there? They weren’t as well trained, or hadn’t practiced in years. A man my size who has the same training as me will probably mop the floor with me.”
“Because of their physical advantages.” Coraline said it as a statement, rather than a question.
“Yes. Bone size, musculature, and their overconfidence…”
“So, you were better trained than them, took them by surprise and destroyed them,” Coraline said the last bit with a smile.
“Yes. Nobody ever said a girl has to fight fair, and nobody expects the level of violence that mama bears are willing to unleash. So, you have to hit them hard and fast, go for the quick take down. That sometimes will give a little person like me the advantage I need to beat some ass or get away. That old guy was good though, I got the feeling he was mostly toying with me. If he hadn’t have gotten more involved, I think I could have put a monkey stomping on those three little bitches and made them cry for momma.”
Now both were smiling big. “You go get your shower sugar, I’ll have the doc sign off on things, but ask him to hold on your release until after supper. Still some folks in the barracks that are sore at you.”
“You mean the guards?” Angelica asked.
“And some of the ladies, apparently. Now girl, go get your shower done.”
“Play it cool,” Curt said to Rob, who was sitting in the back of the Suburban.
The flashing lights of blue and red lit up the early morning. The sun had started blinding them as it rose a few minutes earlier.
“State Trooper,” Andrea told them. “Has a partner. Both are headed up on either side.”
Rob made sure the gun under his shirt was out of sight. The rest of his toys were on the floorboard with a blanket over them, or in the back of the truck. With the back windows tinted dark, Rob doubted they could do more then see vague shapes back there.
“Hi,” both troopers said at the same time.
“Hello officers,” Andrea and Curt replied.
“We have a stay at home order in effect—”
“Oh crap, I forgot, I needed to leave this on the dash, didn’t I?” Andrea slowly picked up the travel letter.
“Let me see that,” the trooper on Curt’s side said.
Curt grabbed it from her and handed it over. The trooper on Andrea’s side looked in the back at Rob. “Good morning, sir.”
“Good morning, officers,” Rob said, trying not to clench his teeth.
They hadn’t even been forty-five minutes down the road, when the trooper had come out from behind a sign, lights flashing.
“This travel letter seems to be in order, Mister and Missus Mallory. Rob. Listen you three—”
“Wait, you didn’t even ask us for our—” Curt started to interrupt, the nervousness finally breaking into his tone.
“I don’t know if you recognize me, but you might recognize her,” the trooper said, then whistled.
Out of the passenger side rear window of their car, a big shaggy form jumped out and ran to the side the trooper Andrea was speaking to, and sat. They all watched, then Andrea let out a small laugh as it clicked.
“You were there for the pig roast!”
“Yes ma’am. And when a BOLO went out a day or two ago for a Suburban that matches the description of the three families at the farm, it sort of piqued our interest.”
“And then there’s Jeff,” the trooper on Curt’s side said. “He did some damn foolish stuff back in the day, but my jaw about hit the floor when he asked me to be at the market to back his play a little bit ago. I was the guy who threw the feathers. That was fun.”
“Holy shit,” Rob said, and let out a huge breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“Then this morning,” the trooper on Curt’s side started talking, “we see you two in the front and recognize the vehicle, and here we are.”
“So, what are you doing away from the county? You know you’re safe at the farm,” the second trooper with the K9 said.
Curt started to say something, then hesitated. Rob cleared his throat. “Doctor Mallory has to check in with the hospital, see if the last of her casts can come off and if she’s fit for duty. Curt’s got business to attend to.”
“And what about you?” the one on Curt’s side asked, a smile on his face.
“I’m the hired muscle,” Rob said, not quite lying.
“You wouldn’t happen to be headed south east instead of north east, would you?”
Now the three in the Suburban looked at each other, then back to them. “What makes you think that?” Andrea asked.
“I was the one who did the digging for Daniels. He’s a great cop, but is lousy with computers. I found most of the info he was asking about in the database, and made a couple of phone calls. So, who did they take?”
“My wife,” Rob said after a moment.
“Do any of you have a burner phone?” the trooper on the left asked. “Like, one you’ve never used before?”
“I do,” Andrea said, patting her purse.
“Here,” the trooper scribbled something on his notepad, “that’s the number to the phone I just turned on this morning.”
“What do you want us to do with it?” Curt asked, being coy.
“If you’re about to do what I think you’re about to do… Like
